It’s called the Border War, but truth be told most of the combatants from the north are really from the south.
Wyoming brings 12 starters from the state of Colorado to Colorado State on Friday for the season-ending hostilities. A 13th co-starter, linebacker Luke Chase (Windsor) broke his leg Saturday against BYU. CSU has listed nine in-staters, depending on the weekly injury list, including both kicking specialists.
“I don’t think there’s that much of a difference,” said Wyoming sophomore defensive end John Fletcher, who played quarterback for Ralston Valley in Arvada. “For the Colorado kids, the parents come up to watch all the games so it almost feels like home.”
For decades Wyoming considered Colorado its natural recruiting home. The intensity varied with each coaching staff.
“I go back to when I was at Northern Colorado and we got guys (such as punter Dirk Johnson and defensive end Aaron Brown — both played in the NFL) who Colorado, CSU and Wyoming all turned down,” Wyoming coach Joe Glenn said Tuesday during the Mountain West Conference call. With more football players than scholarships available on the Front Range, Glenn said it only makes sense to keep mining Colorado.
The Cowboys are redshirting two freshmen linebackers, Gabe Knapton (Longmont Skyline) and Brian Hendricks (Burlington). Wyoming already has three commitments from Colorado top 25 recruits: Highlands Ranch offensive lineman Nick Williams, Fort Collins defensive end Chance Crawford and Columbine tight end Matt Birkeness.
With a concentration of Colorado products on both sides comes more fuel for the bad-blooded rivalry.
But there’s no Colorado clique on a Wyoming roster that lists players from Alaska to Arizona.
“It’s pretty much all the same,” Fletcher said. “Once you go to a school, the rival team becomes part of you. Whether you are from Colorado, the East Coast or the West Coast, the one team to beat for us is CSU, and for CSU I’m sure it’s us.”
Recruiting news. The Rams have another commitment from Libby, Mont. — tight end/defensive end Jordan Gragert, 6-feet-3, 235 pounds.
Natalie Meisler: 303-954-1295 or nmeisler@denverpost.com
